Vehicle-body.



s. E; LIGHT .1, 1910. I 9 969,293. 1 Patented Sept. 6, 1910.

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W'imeaaee Inwenor s. E. LIGHT. VEHICLE BODY.

APPLIOATION IILBD APBHI, 1910. I

969,293. Patented Sept. 6, 1910.

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W'zlnessee Invenor Quiz: y dnflazm fl(/0rn 7\ THE mmms Pawns co,WASHINGTON, n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL E. LIGHT, AND

OF EVANSVILLE, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO WILLIAM H. MoCUB/DY JOHN D. CRAFT,BOTH OF EVANSVILLE, INDIANA.

VEHICLE-BODY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 6, 1910.

Application filed April 1, 1910. Serial No. 552,918.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL E. LIGHT, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of the city of Evansville, in the county of Vanderburg andState of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inVehicle-Bodies, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming apart of this specification.

For years efforts have been made to furnish a box body for vehicleswhich upon exposure to the weather should not open up at the seams.Corner irons and braces of various kinds have been provided, anddiligent efforts made to secure and brace the panel sides and ends sothat the joints would not part when the vehicle is subjected to thestrains and exposure to the elements while in use, but without entiresuccess. It has been also sought to remedy the difliculty by forming thepanels for the sides and ends in a single piece, and to bend such panelaround the corners, and secure same to the sills in various ways. Evenwith panels curved or bent at the corners, the expansion and contractionof the frame, however, causes the same damage. The wood of the frameswhen subjected to moisture expands in width and not lengthwise so that apanel permanently secured to this frame at the end and sides mustnecessarily split or open up at the corners upon any substantialenlargement of the frame.

It is the object of my invention to overcome this diflicultyparticularly at the rear, where splits, checks or open seams are mostnoticeable, and the invention consists of that certain novelconstruction and arrangement to be hereinafter particularly pointed outand claimed, in which provision is made for the expansion or contractionof the frame.

In the drawings, Figure l is a perspective View of the panel for thesides and end of the body. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the bodyframe and panels in place with one corner of the panel broken away atthe rear. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the body. Fig. 4 is an enlarged planview of one corner of the body, with dotted lines to show the efiect ofexpansion of the frame. Fig. 5 is a similar view, with dotted lines toshow the effect of contraction of the frame.

1, 1, are the side sills of the frame, 2 the front sill and 3 the rearsill. These sills are preferably joined together at the corners with anordinary lap joint, although the method of oining the sill frame is notmaterial. At the front corners of this frame, corner posts 1, a, orcorner irons are erected; at the middle portion the seat posts 5, 5, arepreferably mortised into the side sills, and slats 6, 6, runninglengthwise of the body are attached to bars running crosswise of thebody. These bars are mortised into the side sills of the frame. In thisway, a strong and substantial framework is provided for the finishedvehicle body. It will be understood, however, that the framework can beput together in any desired way, without in any way afiecting myinvention.

7 is the panel for the sides and end formed in a single piece of alength to extend from one front corner to the other, and this panel ispreferably steamed and then bent to form rounded corners 8, 8, a middleportion 9 for the rear panel, and parallel sides 10, 10.

The rear corners of the sill frame are also rounded off to correspondwith the bends of the panel, and in addition to rounding off thecorners, they are cut away as shown at 11 to leave a space 12, 12, ateach rear corner. This portion is usually cut away after the frame isjoined together, and the cut is commenced and terminates slightly beyondthe line of the inner edge of the sills, so as to leave a shoulder 13,13, parallel with and slightly within these lines. The panel 7 is thenfitted around the sides of the side and rear sills and secured in placein any convenient way, by nails or screws and usually also by gluing. Atthe front the ends of the panel are secured to the corner posts, and 14:is the front panel, a separate piece secured directly across the frontin the usual way.

When the panel for the sides and end of the body is formed in this wayout of a single piece and secured as described to the side and rearsills, with openings 12, 12, between the frame and the panel at thecurved corners, which openings provide for expansion and contraction ofthe sills, the panel is substantially indestructible, and will nevercheck or crack or open up at the corners,

In order to show the effect of expansion of the frame, I haveillustrated in Fig. 4 one of the rear corners of the body in which thedotted line 15 indicates the outer edge of the rear sill 3 and thedotted line 16 the outer edge of the side sill 1 of the frame whenexpanded, and the dotted lines 17 and 18 indicate the position of theouter face of the panel at the end and sides respectively to conform tothis enlargement of the frame. The dotted line 19 indicates theexpansion of the cut away portion of the side sill 1, and the dottedline 20 the position of the cut away portion of the rear sill 3.

In view of the fact that the opening 12 is provided, the effect ofpushing out the sides and end of the panel is merely to flatten out thecurve of the bent portion 8, as indicated by the dotted lines 21 and 22.

It will be evident from an inspection of Fig. 4 that the expansion ofthe frame will not check or split the panel at the bent corner, as thereis ample room to allow for the shortening of the curve. It will also beevident from this inspection that without the cut away portion 12, andwith the frame cut to conform to the original curve, inasmuch as theoriginal curved portion is longer than the flattened curve, the panelwould have to break at the corner when sub jected to the expansionindicated.

In Fig. 5 I have indicated in the same way the effect of contraction.The dotted lines 23, 2 1 show the position of the rear portion of thepanel and the dotted lines 2, 26 the side portion. The dotted lines 27,28 show the effect of the contraction on the cut portion of the frame,and the dotted lines 29, 30 the position of the panel at the curve underthis contraction.

The effect of contraction of the frame is merely to increase thecurvature of the panel at the corner.

Between the limits of expansion and contraction the curvature of thepanel merely changes to follow the enlargement or diminished size of theframe without any liability to check or split at the corners.

It is not essential that the entire corner of the frame shall be cutaway to provide for this expansion or contraction of the frame as longas suflicient material is removed to prevent undue pressure on thepanel, but to extend the out beyond the line of jointure of the ends ofthe frame, I find the preferable construction, for the reason that thepanel at the rounded corners is in that event freed from any strainengendered by the expansion or contraction of either of the sills.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A vehicle body, comprising a rectangular frame composed of front,rear and side sills, suitably secured together, with an upright panel toform the sides and end of the body, said panel formed in a single piece,with curved corners, and suitably secured to the sides and end of theframe, with the corners of the frame cut away to leave open spacesbetween the ends of the frame and the panel, to allow for the expansionand contraction of the parts.

2. A vehicle body, comprising a rectangular frame composed of front,rear and side sills, suitably secured together, with an up-- right panelto form the sides and end of the body, said panel formed in a singlepiece, with curved corners, and suitably secured to the sides and end ofthe frame, with the corners of the frame cut away to leave open spacesbetween the ends of the frame and the panel, to allow for the expansionand contraction of the parts, said out portions extending around thecorners of the frame slightly beyond the inner lines of the sill pieces.

Attest H. H. LANG, I VM. Soor'r.

